


Coffee and Clarity

by Tovi_the_Reader



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Coffee Shops, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Jotunn Loki (Marvel), Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, The Author Regrets Nothing, Tropes abound, sue me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:00:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27801928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tovi_the_Reader/pseuds/Tovi_the_Reader
Summary: A coffee shop, The Garden Grounds, is located not far from the Avengers Compound in a small town nestled in upstate New York. Loki goes in to try the blends and concoctions of his newfound favourite beverage and finds something else entirely.A woman that can see through illusions.This intrigues him. What else is this mortal hiding? And what is she hiding from?
Relationships: Loki (Marvel)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 27
Kudos: 63





	1. Garden Grounds

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Veno7913](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Veno7913/gifts).



> So like my last fic this is a plot bunny that ran away with me. I know I have a sequel to write but that... hasn't been going well. So you get a fluffy Loki coffee shop fic instead! Enjoy!

The scent of coffee drifted on the winter wind from the shop up the small-town street. The warm and sharp scent prickled at his nose and beckoned him forward ever faster. Snow danced around his feet as his breath clouded out with each stride. He wore a coat, black like the rest of his sharp clothing, only for show. Neither an Asgardian nor a Jotun needs things like a coat in a Midgardian's "winter."

He followed the scent to its source and opened the door to the tinkling of a small group of bells. Of all the things mortals had Loki thought of coffee as one of his favourites. The shop the spiderling frequented when he was in the area of the compound was Garden Grounds. Furnished in chocolate browns and mint greens, the place was both quaint and clean seeming. Abused couches and secondhand chairs surrounding low tables clashed with the steel countertop bar and stools along the right side. 

The employees, the three he could see, bustled around a handful of customers that were scattered through the place. Loki took a deep breath of the place and sighed lightly. It was good to be around others that weren't the Avengers. One of the… baristas they were called, walked through the double doors behind the counter. She attempted a greeting for him but her smile faltered as she blinked. 

A thrill of panic skittered down Loki’s spine for a split second before he remembered he changed his guise before leaving the compound property in a mix of illusion and shapeshifting. It wouldn't do to be recognized by the public before he had at least a few days of fun from under the noses of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Even if two of those heroes were otherwise occupied most of the time now.

His guise had the same visual themes as his usual countenance. The angles curved more, his eyes a duller green, and his hair was a curly black mess that barely brushed his ears. He didn't care for the build, a bit stockier than his usual though just as tall. He knew himself to be just as handsome as ever but in a different manner.

Her reaction pricked at the back of Loki’s mind as he approached the counter. The rapid blinking replayed in his head. That wasn't the flush of a woman seeing a handsome man, that reaction he knew well. It was more shocked puzzlement. As if he were wearing garish colours or made an odd squawking noise as a greeting. 

His eyes took in her every detail. Her honey gold hair strained against the feeble bands that held it in a bun on the crown of her head, escaping in waving locks and sticking to her heart-shaped face. The woman was small with a soft physique and pale skin. Her brown eyes were unfocused behind the rounded lenses of her glasses as she seemed to gather herself. Millie, as her name tag proclaimed her to be, smiled up at him and said, “Welcome to Garden Grounds. What can I make for you today.?”

Loki paused. He read up on what each concoction was but couldn't quite decide. With a winning smile, he asked, “I am a fan of both the dark and bitter and sickeningly sweet. There are too many options. Surprise me, Ms Millie.”

A twinkle of delight sparked behind her eyes, her voice soft and bubbling, “Alright! Any food allergies or intolerances I should be aware of?”

“Not a one.”

“Coming right up,” She said with cheer before busying herself with the machinery and spices around her. He took up a chair in the corner and observed the entire space, watching the comings and goings of the mortals caught up in their daily lives. They were all blissfully unaware of the god amongst them.

He covered his observance with a small illusion. His double-checked a phone and read something or other so he could watch in peace. The couple by the window chatted. He overheard their professions of love yet the seeping foulness of a lie leaked from one of them. The gentleman on the many-buttoned phone in his sharp suit wore his falsehoods like a peacock’s plumage. _Look at me,_ it said, _Look at my watch and clothes and shiny black shoes. I am nobility and above all of you. Serve me._ Loki’s eyes rolled heavily before they drifted to the woman behind the counter…

As she looked him in the eye.

Not his double. Loki’s eyes.

She quickly pretended not to, the flash of fear was smothered by her sudden devotion to pouring hot milk into his drink. Another lie of sorts, one born of alarm and self-preservation. Interesting.

Loki was torn. On the one hand, this mortal woman had abilities that could uncover who he is and cut his fun short. On the other was his boundless curiosity as to how she could see through his illusions. Loki was not just a simple magician. He was the God of Illusion. Even Strange struggled with his tricks and he was the best humanity had to offer in terms of sorcery. How did this mortal woman see through it with such ease? It looked innate and unintentional as well. 

It was decided, not that there was too much debate in the trickster’s mind. He was a hunting hound with a scent. She had piqued Loki of Asgard’s interest. Consequences be damned. 

Millie called to Loki with a, “Here’s your drink, Sir.”

She set the drink on the counter before scurrying to the rear of the building, the doors swaying on their hinges in her wake. One of her coworkers took up her place behind the counter, a tall black woman with bright red dreadlocks cascading down her back. She shrugged and said, “Sorry about her. She gets like that sometimes. That’ll be $4.25.”

“Don't apologize. I've been known to cut an intimidating figure, even unintentionally,” Loki said with a winning smile. Seeing the woman’s nametag he added, “Do pass on my own apologies, Nikki. I mean her no harm.”

“Will do,” She replied before processing the stolen twenty-dollar bill he slid across the counter. Stark wouldn't miss it. He dropped the money she handed back to him in the glass jar labelled ‘Tips’ much to Nikki's delight. Loki took his mystery beverage and strode out of the door with another bright chime. He would be back wearing another face. He needed to know how far little Millie’s eyes saw.


	2. Little Noble

Vanilla and cinnamon clashed violently in his cup. Loki’s attempt at recreating the spiced delight that was the laté Millie made him was a failure. He poured it down the drain and made a black coffee with two sugars. He took his pitiful replacement to the adjoining living room and sat in one of the sleek chairs Stark picked. 

The round living space of the compound’s residential quarters was decorated in cool colours and sharp lines. Halls broke away from the place like spokes of a wheel, each hall leading to private rooms or office spaces. Loki relaxed into the seat and the silence. Earth’s heroes were out on business of one form or another leaving the place oddly empty.

The book sat in his lap. His eyes saw words, comprehensible ones even, but nothing stuck. His mind strolled away without a care to what he wanted to do and dove into what he saw in Millie’s eyes. The fear that was there.

Did she see who he was under his illusory mask? Surely not or she would have run screaming from the monster behind the attack on New York. Millie only showed trepidation when she saw through his illusion. 

He tried for fifteen more minutes to get through at least a page of the tome in his lap but his mind would not have it. He had a new puzzle in the little golden-haired barista. He tossed the book on the side table, stood, and teleported.

The snow where he appeared was deeper that it was just the week prior. He clothed himself in layers of thick grey and the guise of a lanky Asian man with short dyed-green hair and dark eyes. He considered going with his last face but that would not be conducive to finding how deep her sight went. 

Garden Grounds’ outdoor sign, dusted in snow, read out their specials and was festooned in fluffy red and green garland. He could see the new decor through the window, a miniature Christmas tree on one end of the french window display and a menorah on the other. The tree threw his mind back to Yule in the palace as a child. Of accompanying Odin on his rounds visiting the Norse people so long ago. The chubby Santa statue brought quite a bit of mirth to Loki. His father hated that his image turned into a fat man in the arctic with a hoard of elven servants to an entire continent's worth of people. 

He shook the mixed feelings away and strode in. Sweet baked apples and earthy coffee bathed his senses. This shop somehow felt like a warm blanket by the hearth. Millie was wiping down the counter and rattled out a practised, “Welcome to Garden Grounds. What can I get you today?”

Loki stayed silent until she was done with her task and she looked up. The light of recognition hit her features as her face lost some colour. Millie visibly shook that off as best she could and took her place behind the cash register.

Loki could hear the bustling behind the double doors of her coworkers. The clanking of metal bakeware. The whirr of mechanical mixers. He heard not the approach of footsteps to the double doors. Under his breath he asked, looking into the chocolate depths of her eyes, “You know who I am?”

The pallor of her face grew but she nodded and said in halting tones, “You're the surprise order from a while back.”

She was technically correct. He let out a sighing laugh. At least the ‘who’ was still vague enough that he could see how this woman’s gift worked. From her reactions, it would seem to her a curse. 

“I will return,” he whispered further, “in my previous form if it would make you more comfortable. I did… enjoy your last creation and would like to see what other surprises you have in store for me.”

Like light breaking through a storm, she smiled up at him. Her eyes fell to the floor as her hands wrung her apron. She said, “It would, thank you. You're… not angry that I see through your powers?”

This gave him pause, “Not at all. Why would I be?”

Millie sighed while her shoulders relaxed and a horrible realization took him. She saw through an illusionist's trick at some point and they were angry. Furious enough to leave her with the lingering wariness of all who cast them. The events that lead to her panic were added to the growing list Loki had of things to learn about Millie.

The god left to find a secluded place to shift. One dark alleyway and a moment of time later he made his way back to Garden Grounds. Through the windows, frost encroaching on the corners of the panes, he saw the man from his last visit. The false nobility that wore his lies like a shield. He was looming over the counter, teeth bared while he snarled something at Millie. Loki opened the front door of the shop and swore he heard the metal of the door handle groan under his grip. 

“I told you nutmeg. _Nutmeg._ This has cinnamon!” He shouted, spittle flying. 

Millie flinched, her frame curled in on itself. Loki’s fury bubbled just below the surface, a lion pacing in its flimsy cage. The air inside dropped a few degrees. The god was just about to open his mouth to cut the snide bastard off when the little ‘noble’ acceded Loki’s expectation of stupidity.

He cocked his arm back to throw the scalding hot beverage into Millie’s downturned face.

All pretence of humanity fled before his rage. Loki was by his side in a blink, his hand around the man’s offending wrist. It was a small mercy that the trickster didn't crush the tiny, fragile bones, though he was sorely tempted to. Slowly. 

“Let go of me!” He spat, still indignant. Utterly ignorant of the danger he was in, “Do you have any idea who I am?”

Loki laughed, long and loud and wicked. With a grin that belonged more on Fenrir than a man he snarled, “Do you have any idea _what_ I am?”

He let the illusion drop from his eyes alone, turning them into pools of crimson that promised a swift and painful end. The pompousness drained from the man’s face along with any colour right before a flick of Loki’s arm doused him in the very coffee he was going to use in his assault. 

He screamed and thrashed in Loki’s unmoving grip. The god couldn't tell if it was from the searing heat or the fear but he didn't care either way. Millie was safe and the humbled little noble scurried outside and into the winter afternoon. 

Millie, voice trembling, asked, “Why did you throw his drink on him? He was only yelling.”

Loki sighed and then growled, “Because he was going to burn you with it. I could not stand for that so I… intervened.”

“Well… Thank you-” She began before the double doors opened behind her. Nikki stepped out and her eyes fell to the floor.

“What happened?” she asked as Millie collected the mop. His swift defence had left quite the mess of coffee over the tiles.

Millie explained the events from her point of view, how he ordered his usual but she had grabbed the wrong spice. When she uttered his name, Wallace, Nikki’s jaw ticked. He had apparently been a troublesome figure before.

“If we caught it on camera we may be able to ban him this time,” Nikki mused.

“If this Wallace was such a nuisance beforehand, why was he not barred from the premise previously?”

Millie piped up, “Because he’s Mayor Wallace’s son, Leon.”

Noble indeed. Or what passed for one in the nowhere town they were in. Loki knew the type. Leon stretched his small stipend of power and influence to its limits to feel some form of worth. He had never earned his respect. It was handed to him and thus Leon thought that _all_ things should be. 

As Millie went to clean the mess he made Loki let a few green sparks fall from his hand out of Nikki’s view. All at once the coffee vanished leaving behind gleaming stone. Millie drew back and then grinned up at the god. 

It lit a flame in his chest, that smile. Something inside him he could not name shifted. If Wallace, or any other, should move to harm her there would be no force in the universe to stop Loki’s immediate and harsh retribution. 

That sudden steel-hard conviction scared him.


	3. Siblings

“Brother. What troubles you?” said Thor. The various Avengers had drifted in and out throughout that day. Some asked how he was, others ignored him completely, all the while he sat at the rear window and stared out over Willow’s forest without ever really seeing it. His own mind tumbling over itself over Millie.

What was the draw? He had seen beings that knew an illusion on sight. Loki had to admit that he had never seen a human with that capability. Not without years of magical understanding under their belt. The innateness of her abilities shouldn't surprise him. He knows of how humans mutate on midgar-

"Brother? Did you hear me?"

Loki sighed and closed his eyes, "Yes. I heard you. Is it so shocking that I ignored you?"

"No. What _is_ is that," Thor snatched an apple from a basket of fake fruit and tossed it at Loki's head. When Loki caught it Thor said, "You are physically here."

"I am supposed to be here."

"You're never here."

"Of course I am. Check the feed of Jarvis' surveillance."

"You may be able to fool the artificial intelligence but I have known you for your entire life. This flavour of brooding is only for when something is deeply wrong. You were gone for an entire afternoon yesterday and again a few weeks ago. I checked with Lady Willow and you were not on her property."

"You are becoming quite the sleuth. Better late than never," Loki jabbed. Thor frowned and stood there. Concerned. Sibling-like. His brother was not going to let this go, " Fine, you insufferable oaf. I have been exploring the nearby town. The spiderling frequents a coffee shop there and someone caught my attention."

"And this is... distressing?"

"Puzzling more like. She can see through illusion and- Don't make that face."

"What face?"

"That one with the sense of smug superiority."

"Come now! Thats just my face. I swear it," Thor said, turning to poorly hide the chuckle that wormed its way out. Loki stood and glared at his brother before the God of Thunder snickered out, "I mean you gave me no end of trouble for trying to work it out with Jane, a simple mortal woman in your words, and here you are entranced-"

"I am not _entranced_ !" Loki snapped, "Curious maybe but I am not some smitten boy. She can see through illusions, even my own. That is cause enough for me to investigate further."

"Investigation..." Thor pondered, chin in hand before smirking with, "Is that what they're calling it now?"

Loki's seider flared green around him, a hex on his lips, when JARVIS said from above, "Sir would like me to remind you to, and I quote, 'take your godly pissing matches outside so you don't blow a hole in the building. Again.'"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. Between the pandemic, an attempted coup, and personal things writing took a back seat. I hope you enjoyed this little tidbit though!

**Author's Note:**

> Leave comments and kudos if you wish. I adore both!  
> This takes place in the same universe as The Girl Next Door.


End file.
